Intelligence US

INTELLIGENCE is a dramatic thriller starring Josh Holloway as a high-tech intelligence operative enhanced with a super-computer microchip in his brain. With this implant, Gabriel is the first human ever to be connected directly into the worldwide information grid and have complete access to Internet, WiFi, telephone and satellite data. He can hack into any data center and access key intel in the fight to protect the United States from its enemies. Leading the elite government cyber-security agency created to support him is Director Lillian Strand a straightforward and efficient boss who oversees the unit's missions. Strand assigns Riley Neal, a Secret Service agent, to protect Gabriel from outside threats, as well as from his appetite for reckless, unpredictable behavior and disregard for protocol. Other skilled members of the Cybercom team include Chris Jameson and Gonzalo "Gonzo" Rodriguez two resourceful federal investigators. The brains behind the design of the chip is Dr. Shenendoah Cassidy, whose son, Nelson is jealous of Gabriel's prominent place in his father's life. As the first supercomputer with a beating heart, Gabriel is the most valuable piece of technology the country has ever created and is the U.S.'s secret weapon.

Jeff Korbelik

The good thing about procedurals is you can come and go and not miss much. The bad thing about procedurals is you can come and go and not miss much. Holloway, though, should be enough to keep you coming back.

Tom Gliatto

Mark A. Perigard

Holloway looks leaner than his Sawyer days and cleans up nice. Ory, such a spitfire on ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” as both Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, seems tamed here, and unfortunately, a little dull.

Mary McNamara

Breathlessly paced and festooned with some pretty groovy computer graphics--the chip allows Holloway to walk through scenes of past destruction in his mind--Intelligence isn't trying to be anything more than what it obviously is. The show is a panoply of familiar elements anchored by a new and attractive leading man.

Brian Lowry

Jeff Jensen

The pilot sets up some promising intrigue but plays like the lowest-common-denominator version of itself: muscular action, a cutout Chinese villain, a rote twist, lots of Josh. Get smarter, please. [10 Jan 2013, p.66]

Robert Bianco

Intelligence may not be the most exciting show the new year will bring, but it is the kind of weekly adventure/mystery CBS does well--one that tells you what it is up front and is smart enough to deliver on most of what it promises.

Brian Tallerico

I want a show like this to be ridiculous and Intelligence is at its most enjoyable when it embraces the B-movie silliness of its concept. When it takes itself as seriously as it too often does, it ends up failing dramatically.

Matt Roush

David Hinckley

The producers provide plenty of action, much of it triggered by the understandable fact that every enemy on Earth would like to get hold of Gabriel’s microchip, or find one of his own. In keeping with CBS’ tradition of action procedurals, Intelligence will solve cases of the week as well as grapple with longer-term dramas.

Ed Bark

For his first Monday night face-off against those two dramas, Holloway strips down to a glistening muscular torso while taking out his frustrations on a heavy boxing bag. But any visual stimulus is countered by Helgenberger’s continued struggles with the clunky lines given her.

Hank Stuever

On the whole, Intelligence trafficks in the usual request to suspend your disbelief and then some, but it’s also mildly intriguing--especially in the idea that its macho lead character is also treated as a vulnerable prize who needs to be protected at all costs.

Lori Rackl

Mike Hale

It feels cobbled together, from the premise of “Chuck,” “Jake 2.0” and other shows to scenes and situations that recall better productions like “Person of Interest,” “Homeland” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

David Wiegand

The show's special effects are relatively decent, especially when Gabriel activates his chip and can re-create events as his own personal hologram. But the stock prickly relationship between Gabriel and Riley, which will undoubtedly lead to trust and maybe something more, is tiresome as soon as it begins.

Joanne Ostrow

Alan Sepinwall

Gabriel's super powers are the thing meant to set the show apart, but the Intelligence writers frequently do a poor job of differentiating how he's any different from someone wearing Google Glass.... That said, Holloway's charm did not get chopped away with his long hair.

Lesley Smith

Intelligence might probe these questions more, and so become richer than the latest show about a tortured male genius outsmarting the bad guys. Or it might just settle for flashy graphics, great action scenes, and underused actors looking good.

Sohrab Ahmari

The action sequences that ensue are intriguing enough. The trouble is that the show doesn't trust the viewer's capacity to infer. Nor does it tolerate the slightest ambiguity. Thus we get long, dull passages of dialogue.

Zack Handlen

It’s always possible that Intelligence might warm to its subject, giving Holloway more to do than look morose and occasionally quip. As it stands now, though, Intelligence is a title that serves as a punchline.

Tim Goodman

Rob Owen

Networks want their shows to look like movies these days, but the Intelligence pilot makes the border of Pakistan and Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., both look like Vancouver, where the pilot was filmed. It's a minor but telling detail in this unimaginative rehash.